Signet Warhorse I left Newport News last week with a dead ship in tow for the Sabine dead fleet.
Signet Warhorse II showed up in NN a few days ago, likely to tow a second ship to the Sabine fleet, but now looks to be heading up to Baltimore.
1 Like
You are right to wonder. They may well have to fabricate fittings to attach direct to main strength elements to attach the towline.
The mooring arrangement plan will give guidance to the salvors but it is unlikely that the bollards fitted will have a SWL that can handle the forces required on the aft mooring deck.
3 Likes
What’s the bollard pull of these tugs? Most Panamax tankers have a 200T towing point on the stern, and large LNGs have bits all around that are rated 120T+. I don’t know about ULCVs but I would think it would be the same or better.
The main worry would be connection points for the two anchored winch barges.
I don’t know what pull capacity they have, nor the holding power of their anchors, but could be upward of 200 m.t. traction, each.
To get sufficient capacity connection point on casualties, especially older vessels with unknow SWL of bollards and towing points, it is common to spread the load on several bollards, or other strong points. (like winch foundations etc.)
2 Likes
I fail to understand an attempt to drag/push a vessel laterally with a “dead” weight (not deadweight) in the order of 150,000 tonnes which is buried in 3 metres of sticky mud.
It looks like most of the force is aft with some power to pivot the stern (maybe off or away from the bank) and a smaller force vector forward. But mostly aft,
Today’s plan
Plan B for later this week.
Have to see which tugs go where and the bollard pull of each.
Current situation as of 29/0745
The name of the game here is ‘Do No Harm’. We’ve got a sensitive environmental loacation, no impact to other vessel transits, calm sea conditions, muddy bottom, a two year old ship with minimal to no damage with 5-10 years of profitable service ahead of her, and all cargo is secure and undamaged.
Sure the H&M folks will pay a premium for services rendered by the salvors, but it will be much less than if the ship were to be declared a total loss of hull and cargo along with environmental liabilities.
Slow and methodical wins this race.
1 Like
As far as I understand it the salvage is on LOF terms (No cure, No pay) (??)
Salvage is paid by P&I, while H&M pay for damage repairs.
Salvor would normally make a show of it to up his claim and changes in Arbitration.
P&I would want the job done as quickly and cheaply as possible, with minimum of environmental risk and damages.
H&M is praying for the Salvor to be as gentle as possible, causing no salvage damages to the casualty.
A difficult balance for the Salvage Master to find.
I think so, too.
The lateral tugs seem to push Ever Forward into the newly dredged zone.
Probably hoping, that her suction into the mud will be broken somehow…
1 Like
Looking again, those two tugs made up stbd side aft can pull as shown on the diagram or more aft with the make-up as shown. Maybe swing more aft as she (hopefully) comes off.
Warhorse II
Atlantic Salvor
Atlantic Enterprise
Lynn Moran
April Moran
They are gathering to make the first pull, around 35,000 hp total.
They are getting some spectators as well, including a Navy YP 
I saw the YP go by earlier. Yesterday a fire boat went out to take a look and sank 
BTW, if it were me doing this, I would wait for the Northwest wind to die down, the wind not only lowers the tide but pushes the ship away from the channel.
- I am wondering how many car wrecks this is going to cause, the whole operation is in sight of any RT 50 traffic on the Bay Bridges and everyone will be looking sideways instead of at the cars ahead of them
2 Likes
Tide is 0.7 feet below normal low tide with the NW wind right now. High tide is about 1800 local time today.
1 Like
Two heli livestreams of the event. So far, no luck - they’re “gonna need a bigger boat”
[edit - a third, shorter report]
1 Like
We have all made various assumptions regarding the cause of the grounding apart from one human factor……fatigue.
Latest plans are that if the ship cannot be refloated on Tuesday, further attempts will be made on April 3 and 4.
The salvors should take advantage of the forecast wind direction on Thursday.
Nearby Gibson Island wind and weather forcast for the next 5 days. Click on the image to zoom in.
Not sure how they are gonna do it, but breaking that suction of the mud is problematic. Rocking the vessel back and forth will help. Been stuck in the mud before. Not like this incident, but will require movement in the glue.
2 Likes